EDITORIAL
Capital crisis: on Delhi’s
Deteriorating Air Quality
Tarun Sharma
Delhi’s air quality deterio-
rates with unfailing regularity
at this time of the year, with
large swathes of north India in
the grip of a suffocating smog,
but the State governments that
can make it easier for millions
to breathe do not act with any
sense of urgency. That it has
turned into a public health emer-
gency in the capital, with the air
quality index touching extreme-
ly hazardous levels in some
parts, necessitating the closure
of primary schools, has further
lowered its standing. It is un-
conscionable for governments,
through indifference and inac-
tion, to subject citizens to such
toxic air, and cause extreme suf-
fering especially among people
with respiratory ailments and
impaired lung function. The
smog that envelops the region
is exacerbated by the burning
of biomass in Punjab and Hary-
ana, and the winter atmosphere
is marked by weak ventilation.
An analysis of local sources by
IIT-Kanpur last year pointed to
construction dust, vehicular pol-
lution, and domestic and indus-
trial emissions as other major
2
The Centre and States must urgently ad-
dress farm residue burning in north India
factors. Clearly, the burden of
such chronic problems has out-
weighed the benefits conferred
by measures such as the ban on
Deepavali crackers, and in the
past, the shift to compressed
natural gas for commercial ve-
hicles and restricting car use to
odd and even number plates on
alternate days. A comprehen-
sive solution demands that the
governments of Delhi, Punjab,
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, as-
sisted by the Centre, address
farm residue burning and con-
struction dust.
The post-monsoon — as op-
posed to pre-monsoon — burn-
ing of rice and wheat residue
releases maximum aerosols
that contribute to the volume of
PM2.5, which gets embedded in
the lungs. Automation of farm
operations leaves root-bound
crop waste after machine har-
vesting, running to millions of
tonnes, requiring a solution of
scale. Sustainable residue re-
moval cannot be achieved by the
farmers alone, and requires help
from the state machinery. Here,
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal should be commended
for his initiative to discuss the
modalities of joint action with
the Punjab and Haryana gov-
ernments. The national capital
needs a major greening effort.
Unpaved surfaces raise dust
levels as in all Indian cities, but
civic agencies ignore the prob-
lem. There is every reason to
think that even the Ministry of
Environment’s orders issued
in 2015 under the Air (Preven-
tion and Control of Pollution)
Act, 1981 to comprehensively
green Delhi’s road margins and
open spaces were not pursued
seriously. Shifting more of the
city’s travel to comfortable pub-
lic transport can cut fine particu-
lates in congested areas and im-
prove the air for residents. Many
such initiatives were taken up
by China in its cities to reduce
exposure to PM2.5 that produc-
es morbidity from cardiovascu-
lar and respiratory diseases and
leads to premature death. Only a
determined response to the crisis
can spare Delhi of its infamous
tag as one of the most polluted
cities on the planet.